Mexico: Exports, Imports, and Trade Balance

The U.S. merchandise trade deficit with Mexico, the United States' third-largest individual trade partner, declined by $14.2 billion (17 percent) to $70.6 billion in 2009. This decrease was largely due to the U.S. economic recession and the financial crisis in the United States banking system, which cut U.S. demand for many goods produced in Mexico.

The Mexican economy has become increasingly intertwined with that of the United States since the implementation of the North American Free Tree Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, and is strongly linked to the U.S. business cycle. As a result, Mexico=s economy suffered the steepest contraction in seven and a half decades.

Imports of electronic equipment, transportation equipment, energy-related products, and machinery, the four largest U.S. import sectors by value, accounted for 73 percent of total imports and 88 percent of the total decline in imports from Mexico in 2009. The decrease in U.S. demand for these product sectors was largely due to weak U.S. economic conditions and tight credit conditions.

The worldwide downturn also depressed Mexican demand for U.S. exports. In 2009, there were significant declines in U.S. merchandise exports to Mexico in agricultural products, forest products, chemicals and related products, and energy-related products.